BAGHDAD (AFP) - Seven people were killed and several wounded when a car bomb ripped through the streets outside Al-Arabiya television`s offices in Baghdad, the network said.
The US military earlier said that five people had been killed and 19 wounded when the car bomb exploded outside an Arabic television station`s offices in Baghdad, gouging a hole in the front of the building and sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air.
The Al-Arabiya satellite channel, had received threats in recent weeks warning them of an attack, said Mohammed Abdelhamid, 28, a correspondent for the Dubai-based station. It said 16 people were wounded.
US soldiers and Iraqi police on the scene, however, were unable to confirm what had been the target of the blast in the Mansour neighbourhood, which also houses several foreign embassies.
A huge crater was punched into the road by the force of the blast outside a car park and across the street from the television station, where fire fighters were battling to put out a blaze.
The front of Al-Arabiya`s offices were destroyed along with scores of cars that had been parked outside. The station said the dead included one of the building`s security guards and an administrative staffer.
"We have retrieved five corpses from the rubble," said police lieutenent Rauf Majdi.
Police and national guards secured the area, as ambulances ferried the wounded and the dead.
A doctor at the nearby Yarmuk hospital told AFP that 19 injured people had been admitted following the blast, while Abdelhamid from Al-Arabiya said three staff had been seriously hurt.
"It was a suicide car bomb targeting the Al-Arabiya building," said Ahmed Abdulhamir, a driver for the television station.
An interior ministry spokesman confirmed the attack but was unable to say whether it had been committed by a suicide bomber.
The Al-Arabiya correspondent said he thought it was a targeted attack.
"We have received threats recently in the form of lettes from unknown groups," said Abdelhamid, who has been on his way back to his office when the explosion occurred.
It was the first such attack suffered by Al-Arabiya in Baghdad, where they have about 40-to-50 staff, he added.
The building is also used by staffers of Al-Arabiya`s sister television MBC, as well as staffers of the Saudi government`s news channel Al-Ikhbariya.
10/30/2004 - 15:18 GMT - AFP